Engineering Aesthetics and Ergo-Aesthetics:

Human factors researchers and practitioners have been focusing research attention on the easeof-use, productivity, safety, comfort, and effectiveness aspects of product and system design. This article argues that it is time that we add another important dimension to the fields of human factors research and practice—the aesthetic dimension. This article discusses the need for the establishment of a new scientific and engineering discipline that we can call “engineering aesthetics.” This discipline addresses two major questions: How do we use engineering/scientific/mathematical methods to study the concepts of aesthetics in general and aesthetics in product, work, and system design in particular? How do we use engineering/scientific/mathematical methods to help make products, work, and human-machineenvironment systems more aesthetic? This article identifies two special features that distinguish aesthetic appraisal of products and system design from aesthetic appreciation of art, and lays out a theoretical foundation as well as a two-process research methodology for engineering aesthetics.